Pilgrim Baxter & Associates

Wayne, PA: (Sep-13-07) The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought charges against Pilgrim Baxter & Associates, alleging that there was conflict of interest trading allowed by Wayne, PA-based Pilgrim Baxter, adviser to the PBHG mutual fund family, that diluted the value of the mutual funds. The firm is now called Liberty Ridge Capital, after company founders Gary Pilgrim and Harold Baxter left the firm. It is owned by Old Mutual PLC, a British financial services firm. The SEC claimed that Pilgrim and Baxter were personally allowing large shareholders, including Pilgrim himself, to engage in a trading practice called market timing that involved quickly buying and selling shares of a fund to take advantage of price inefficiencies and market developments.

In a settlement reached, the firm agreed to pay $267 million to investors to resolve the claims. Sources state that certain holders of PBHG shares between June 1, 1998, and Dec. 31, 2001, would be eligible for payments. The settlement, which includes reimbursement and penalties, will be paid collectively by the firm and the founders.
[PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL: MARKET TIMING]

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